What's the rush on commitment?

I’ve been in Toronto for one week and I’m slowly finding my way. I found a place (it’s really small, just enough space for one bed). Tomorrow I’ll move in but I’ll get some interior stuff to make it my own. Hang my pictures on the wall … Light some scented candles … Put some nice pillows … The kitchen is shared and so is the bathroom. Pictures will follow. (update: never posted any pictures of my place ha!)

The funny thing about today is that I actually dropped out of Strategic PR in Professional Communication today. It was the course I wanted most but it was full but then eventually I got it. It was just so boring and then I heard we would get lots of tasks and that was the bottom line for me haha.

My school in Belgium said that you’ll go through different phases once you’re out there on your own. I feel like I’m in the phase where you miss everything at home. Even the small things.

After class I met up with Lina and Arthur (a Canadian guy of RU (Ryerson University) who studies film, same as Lina). We went eating at the student restaurant. Forgot the name. I’ll probably be eating there more so I’ll update you later in my category E A T on the blog. (update: never ate there again haha)

I said to Arthur that I can’t see who’s Canadian cause there are so many different cultures.

I feel like Canada lacks history and ‘culture’ somehow. There are sooooo many different cultures, that none of them is really Canadian? You have Little Italy, Little Portugal, Chinatown … Toronto is multicultural and that’s it. I could say, it lacks somehow its own identity. (update: wow that was definitely in the phase I was missing home)

As I was comparing, I felt some Belgian pride. The food is better, it’s less crowded, we get easily from one side of the country to the other haha … We have the best chocolate, best beer and in comparison to other countries most of us can speak 4 languages (German, French, Flemish and English). (update: no, not most of us can, the ones who went to good schools which says a lot about our ‘democratic system’).

I’m sure my vision will change about Toronto, or Canada in general, during my stay. I’ve only been here for a week but I do want to type it so that whenever I feel like reading I remember how I felt at the beginning of my stay.

The other thing that’s striking: nobody cares what you do. Just nobody cares. Do whatever you want or feel like. Do you want to wear your bra in public, go ahead. Do you want to play dead in the middle of Eaton Square, go ahead (somebody really did that). Coming from a family with lots of standards and values it kinda feels confronting and I’m figuring out whether all this is good.

What I’ve actually learned so far is that you see so much more when you step out of your bubble, comfort zone. You actually have no idea until you decide to do so. It makes sense. If you’re staying for so long in one place, you go with the flow. You don’t look beyond that.

But once you’re out you also appreciate more what you already have. Like in Belgium our school system is subsided by the government while in North-America they need a loan to pay for school. And in Belgium we just take it for granted that we’re able to study.

I realize that with everything it’s better to take a step back. When you’re in your bubble, you can’t see as clearly. Whenever you feel like things are blurry take a step back. It’s definitely eye-opening. (update: yeah, I should do it more often haha)

Lina and I went to Lake Shore where we could end our night with a nice view: